All images are straight out of camera JPEG's and can be clicked to enlarge. I do not hide the fact that I am a Nikon shooter and always have been so perhaps this review could be somewhat biased. That aside, I have been the proud owner of Nikon's newest 'prosumer' DSLR for just under a month now and already, I have been blown away and would like to share a few of my feelings on this impressive piece of kit. Lets get the initial squabbles out in the open early... Is the D750 a replacement to my much loved D700? Well Yes and No. Do I miss the round viewfinder found on the 'pro' bodies? Yes - I have already lost the eyecup which isn't through mistreatment but I have always found the consumer style eyecups are desperate to escape the camera. However, the viewfinder itself is beautifully bright with 100% coverage and the now white writing on the exposure read-out found on the newer models is a nice touch. Do I miss having the ISO, white balance and quality on the top dial? Yes - I personally see the mode dial with the 'EFFECTS' mode a bit gimmiky, however it is easy enough to adjust to changing the ISO via it's new location on the magnify button on the back or by setting it to a custom button on the front. I can not help but think it would be simply stupid to get held up on these silly 'issues' and to not instead make the most out of what is a more rugged, weather sealed, higher resolution and overall more versatile D700 - my initial worries have been put to rest ever since I made the decision to part-exchange my D700 for the D750. So how does it perform? Well I have been ripping my hair out waiting for Adobe Lightroom to release the update support for the D750 (at time of writing) so I can only judge the camera on usability and the JPEGs straight out of camera (as seen below). But already this 'little' camera packs a punch and puts a smile on your face doing it. Recently I visited Westonbirt Arboretum, a large collection of incredible trees in an assortment of colours and textures and I took my new D750 along with me. Shooting under a canopy of branches and foliage can push even the best cameras to the limit with focus and low light capabilities - with the D750 being able to focus at -3EV (for reference -2EV is moonlight!) you will never miss a shot. Focus locks on almost every single time and with the option of using Group Focus (as found in the D810 and D4s) life is made that much easier for the photographer by allowing you to move a clump of 5 focus points around the finder giving you way more chance of the camera finding what you want to focus on. Walking around with this camera is a pleasure in itself as the new design allows for an extremely rugged but very light camera. The new deeper grip gives you a comfortable sense of security and I find myself often (and not sensibly) carrying the camera around with 3 fingers with the strap wrapped around my wrist. It's just that lightweight! The dynamic range is very impressive and will expose images near perfectly almost every time (with minimal exposure compensation tweaking). According to the latest DxOMark sensor review, the D610 trumps the D750 in colour depth and even beats it by a fraction in the overall score of the sensor. However, I feel these reviews must be taken with a pinch of salt. I have handled both cameras and perhaps the D610 does have a better colour depth but in the overall scheme of things the D750 wins hands down every time for the overall versatility, performance, quality and usability. For those trying to decide whether to spend the extra money on the D750 over the D610 then I would personally recommend picking up some extra shifts or try selling a limb on eBay as this camera just won't disappoint. I'm blown away by the amount of camera you get for the price - although aimed at the 'enthusiast photographer' Nikon themselves have said that the camera will likely to be used by many professionals too and I can see why. The low light capabilities are possibly one of the most impressive things about this camera with a DxOMark rating of 2956 - beating it's older brother, the D810 at 2853 and it's younger brother, the D610 at 2925. The native ISO is 100 to 12800 and can be extended to 50 to 51200. Sporting the EXPEED 4 processor found in the D810 and D4s allows this camera to process clean and well saturated imagery even at high ISO's and does so with a resolution at an impressive 24mp. For those wanting a little more resolution out of their cameras without breaking the bank and their computers with the impressively high resolution 36mp D810 then this is the camera to buy. The RAW files come out at a very comfortable average of 30MB which can be processed much more quickly, save space and allow a modest 6.5 frames per second. The JPEG's straight out of camera have really impressed me (although the white balance can sometimes be slightly off and I found it accentuated the magentas and purples slightly at times). I found that noise is processed very cleanly with a smooth compression that won't destroy or soften the image greatly. I can't wait to get the Adobe Lightroom update (hopefully soon - I have been assured from several sources that it's on its way!) to put the D750 through it's paces properly. The only thing that I am scared of is that it will begin to replace my much loved D3 - Although slower frames per second it seems to look like the low light performance will out-do the older D3 and of course the fact that I have group focus and fast focus in less than moonlight is a huge advantage.
I am also hoping to produce some more video as the capabilities for DSLR videographers with this camera are very impressive with up to 60fps at 1080p and the option to shoot high resolution video in low light in both FX and DX format. The auto-ISO feature also allows for super-smooth transition from dark to light environments. Plus the dedicated timelapse feature is a lot of fun and produces extremely sharp video in-camera. More to come soon I am sure but for now here are a few more example images.
1 Comment
Diana
25/10/2014 07:29:28 am
I am debating the purchase of a new camera as my D90 is reaching the high count of shutter life and I want to upgrade. Thank you for your review. I found it very informative and I am definitely thinking of the D750 as my next "best friend".
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